OFI #1904: Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789 | Thanksgiving Episode 2023

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you this year.  2023 has been unbelievable.  I wanted to revisit George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation with you on this wonderful holiday.  I am so thankful and grateful for all of you in this audience, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday with friends and family.

“A Day of Thanksgiving”

George Washington first mentioned the possibility of a national Thanksgiving Day in a confidential letter to James Madison in August 1789 (just months after taking office), asking for his advice on approaching the Senate for their opinion on “a day of thanksgiving.”

By the end of September 1789, a resolution had been introduced to the House of Representatives requesting that “a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving.” The committee put the resolution before the president and George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Proclamation within days.

George Washington knew the value of a thanksgiving day long before becoming our first president.

During the Revolutionary War, he would order special thanksgiving services for his troops after successful battles, as well as publicly endorse efforts by the Continental Congress to proclaim days of thanks, usually in recognition of military victories and alliances.